Speeches: Non-House of Commons: Speech notes and source material.

Reference code: CHUR 5/44A-B

Date: 14 Oct 1951 - 23 Oct 1951

Scope/content:

Speech notes and typescript for WSC's election address (15 October, Huddersfield Town Hall [Yorkshire]) on subjects including: the decision by the Colne Valley [Yorkshire] Conservatives to support a Liberal candidate to stop Labour from winning the seat; the duty of all Conservatives and Liberals to combine against Labour; a tribute to Lady Violet Bonham-Carter [earlier Violet Asquith and Violet Lady Bonham- Carter, later Violet, Lady Asquith of Yarnbury], Liberal candidate for Colne Valley; common Conservative and Liberal principles; the Liberal Government of 1906 compared with the Labour Government; nationalization; WSC's own record in introducing social reform; the dangers of over-centralization of power, and State control; Labour failures, including foreign policy. Published: Complete Speeches VIII pp 8265 - 9.

Speech notes for WSC's election address (16 October, St James's Boxing Hall, Newcastle-upon-Tyne) on subjects including: Britain's loss of prestige abroad, particularly in Egypt and the Empire; the defence of the Suez Canal; the lack of recent direction in the Foreign Office; a dispute in the local Conservative Party; Conservative support for the Government on rearmament, the Government's partisan policy on the nationalization of steel and the Conservative Party's aim of repealing it; the control and reorganization of the coal industry; the threat of future nationalization; the Conservative aim of dismantling the wartime system of controls and restrictions; the danger of giving false promises about the future. Source material includes notes [? by Christopher Soames] on pensioners' earnings, tax relief and Labour's dropping of nationalization from its manifesto and extracts from speeches by WSC on productivity and National Service (7 June, 4 February 1950, see CHUR 5/35 and CHUR 5/31). Published: Complete Speeches VIII pp 8269 - 74.

Speech notes for WSC's election address (17 October, St Andrew's Hall, Glasgow [Scotland]) on subjects including: the weakness of Government policy over the Abadan Refinery [Iran] leading to the crisis in the Suez Canal Zone [Egypt]; the need for stable government; WSC's own feeling for Scotland; the over-centralization of power under the Government; aid for Scotland and Scottish representation in a Conservative Government; the housing shortfall, particularly in Scotland; the rising cost of living and inflation; Labour claims to have solved unemployment; Conservative policy on Trade Unions, the harm done to them by nationalization and the rise in unofficial strikes; the Conservative decision to impose Excess Profits Tax; keeping Britain's place in world affairs. Source material includes cuttings from WSC's speeches on devaluation and planning for the future (14 October 1949, 14 October 1950, see CHUR 5/27 and CHUR 5/38). Published: Complete Speeches VIII pp 8274 - 80.

Speech notes and typescript for WSC's election address (23 October, Home Park Football Ground, Plymouth [Devon]) on subjects including: the nation's improvement in health being due to science, not socialism; the disunity of the Labour Party and unity of the Conservatives, particularly between WSC and Anthony Eden [later 1st Lord Avon]; the harm done to relations with the United States by the Government; accusations that WSC and the Conservatives are war-mongers, and WSC's own hopes of helping to prevent a Third World War; past Conservative support for the Government's rearmament programme and the Labour Party's former opposition to rearmament; Conservative policy on transference of power to India, and the Government's responsibility for the loss of life in the Indian civil war; Britain's place in world affairs and need of support from other powers in the Middle East; the need for stable government instead of internal party quarrels. Also includes a synopsis of the speech, with notes on the Empire, agriculture and the balance of payments. Published: Complete Speeches VIII pp 8281 - 6.